Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces of Milk Chocolate Chips 
•  1 Pound of Fresh strawberries with Leaves
• 2 Tablespoons Shortening

Directions:

1. Wash the Strawberries and Dry.  
2. Melt the Chocolate. If you use White and Chocolate Chips use two separate Bowls and melt each bowl in the Microwave. 

----When using a microwave, it’s easy to overcook chocolate, leaving you with a mottled mess or small, burned chunks. Yuck! No thanks! To ensure your chocolate-dipped strawberries turn out smooth and satiny, follow these easy tips:

• Use good-quality chocolate. It may not be true of everything, but when buying chocolate, you usually get what you pay for.  If there’s ever been a time to splurge, it’s now.  High-quality chocolate will turn your strawberries from ordinary to extraordinary.
• Use a microwave-safe glass bowl.  Glass doesn't hold heat as much as ceramic bowls do.  Using a glass bowl will allow your chocolate to melt without overheating.
• Never microwave your chocolate for more than 30 seconds at a time.  When following the recipes for gourmet strawberries, you’ll be melting chocolate chips for 30 seconds, then stirring them.  Melting, then stirring.  Melting, then stirring.  Chocolate will melt before it really gets hot to the touch, so you want to warm it just enough to melt it, but not enough to cause the milk solids in the chocolate to separate.

3.  Dip the Strawberries Into the Chocolate. 

• With clean strawberries and smooth, melted chocolate, you’re ready to start dipping!  Before you begin, make sure you've set out a large piece of parchment paper.  Parchment paper offers a completely non-stick surface, which allows the underside of your chocolate strawberries to cool with a smooth, flat surface.
• To dip the strawberries, pull all the leafy greens carefully into your fingers, then submerge the red flesh of the strawberry into the chocolate.  Gently swirl the strawberry around the pool of chocolate, making sure all sides are evenly coated.

4. Lift the strawberry from the chocolate and place it carefully on the parchment paper.

---If you’re going gourmet, now’s the time to decorate your strawberries! Sprinkle on your favorite nonpareils, crushed candies or sparkling sugars.---

5. Allow the strawberries to cool completely at room temperature. (Putting the strawberries in the fridge to speed up the cooling might cause the chocolate to develop spots due to the dramatic drop in temperature). Once the chocolate is hardened, eat and enjoy. 

 

Pineapple Avocado Smoothie

Ingredients for Pineapple Avocado Smoothie:

1 Cup water
1/2 medium ripe avocado, peeled & pitted
2 C spinach
2 C frozen pineapple chunks
1 to 2 Tbsp honey or agave,  to taste

How to Blend the Perfect Smoothie:

1. Add all of your ingredients to the blender in this order: 1 Cup water, 1/2 medium rip avocado, peeled & pitted, 2 cups spinach, 2 cups frozen pineapple chunks. Blend until smooth (Note: always start with the liquids and soft ingredients and add the frozen stuff last).

2. Turn off the blender and add honey or agave to taste then blend until well incorporated. 

Buckwheat Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons buckwheat flour

• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons butter

Directions: 

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, and melted butter.
2. In another bowl, mix together white flour, buckwheat flour, sugar, salt and baking soda. Pour the dry ingredients into the egg-mixture. Stir until the two mixtures are just incorporated.
3. Heat  large frying pan (skillet) to medium-hot, and place 1 tablespoon of butter, margarine or oil into it. Let the butter melt before spooning the batter into the frying pan, form 4 inch pancakes out of the batter. Once bubbles form on the top of the pancakes, flip them over, and cook them on the other side. Continue with this process until all of the batter has been made into pancakes.
4.  Add syrup and any sort of berries/fruits. 
   

New Potatoes in a Garlic Cream Sauce

Prep Time:15 minutes            Cook time: 17 minutes
Total Time: 32 Minutes 

Ingredients for Potatoes in a Cream Sauce: 

• 2 lbs new potatoes
• 1/2 Tbsp sea salt for boiling potatoes + 1/2 tsp more for seasoning the sauce
• 1 Tbsp olive oil or butter
• 1/2 medium onion, finely diced
• 1 garlic clove, pressed
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped

How to cook new potatoes:

1. Scrub each potato clean with a scouring pad (or the abrasive side of a dish sponge). New potatoes have a very thin skin. You don’t have to scrub all of it off, just get what you can. 

2. Leave bite-sized potatoes whole and cut larger ones in halves or quarters so they are about 1″ thick pieces. Place potatoes in a pot or a dutch oven  and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, add 1/2 Tbsp salt and boil for 15-20 minutes or until easily pierced with a fork. Drain potatoes.

3. In a separate pan, add 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add finely diced onion and saute over medium heat until golden and soft. Add 1 pressed garlic clove and saute another minute, stirring constantly. Add 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream and 1/2 tsp salt, or add salt to taste, bring to a boil and let simmer an additional 2 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill then remove from heat and pour sauce over potatoes. Toss potatoes in sauce until evenly coated. Cover with lid to keep warm until ready to serve. 

Berry Lemonade Popsicles

Prep Time: 24 Hours
Total Time: 24 Hours
Equipment Used: Popsicle Mold

Ingredients

• Water
• Strawberries, sliced
• Blueberries
• Country time berry lemonade Starter

Instructions

1. Pour 3/4 cup of Country Time Berry Lemonade Starter mix into a pitcher.
2. Fill the pitcher with 7 and 1/4 cups cold water. Stir to combine.
3. Add a few sliced strawberries and blueberries to each popsicle mold.
4. Fill each popsicle mold with the berry lemonade.
5. Place the top on the popsicle mold and insert popsicle sticks.
6. Freeze the popsicles overnight.
7. To get the popsicles to release from the mold, fill your kitchen sink with room temperature water. Place the mold in the water, making sure the water does not go above the top of the mold.
8. Allow the mold to sit in the water for a few seconds.
9. Begin to wiggle a popsicle free. If it feels tough, allow them to set in the water a few more seconds.
10. Once all of the popsicles are removed from the mold, enjoy or wrap the extras in plastic wrap and return to the freezer.

Chicken Brests

Prep Time:15 minutes

Cook time:15 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3-4 chicken breasts, pounded to ½ inch thickness

• ½ cup flour

• 3 eggs + 2 tablespoons water

• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Sauce:

• 1½ cups brown sugar
• ⅓ cup Frank's hot sauce (it can be original or buffalo flavor)
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 and grease a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Slice chicken breasts into strips. Add chicken strips into flour to coat chicken in flour.
3. Place panko crumbs in a bowl. In another bowl whisk together eggs and water. Dip flour-coated chicken strips into egg mixture, then toss in panko crumbs to coat.
4. Place coated chicken pieces on greased baking sheet and spray heavily with cooking spray. Bake 15-20 minutes until chicken is browned and cooked through.
5. While chicken is cooking, prepare the sauce. Add brown sugar and hot sauce to a medium sauce pan and stir over medium-high heat until melted and mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in garlic powder and water until smooth.
6. When chicken strips are done cooking, toss in sauce. Serve warm with ranch dressing if desired.

Red Velvet Chocolate Swirled Bars

INGREDIENTS:

 PREP TIME: 10 minutes

COOK TIME: about 28 minutes

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) melted
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup light brown sugar 
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 
•  1/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
• 2 vials red food coloring or as needed 
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 
• pinch salt, optional 
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
2. In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
3. Wait momentarily before adding the egg so you don't scramble it. Add the egg, brown sugar, vanilla, and whisk until smooth.
4. Add the cocoa and whisk until smooth.
5. Add the red food coloring and whisk to incorporate. I used 2 vials of red food coloring. Use any type of food coloring you like; you'll need a lot of it because it takes a lot to turn a chocolaty batter red. Keep adding until desired shade is obtained. 
6. Add the flour, optional salt, and stir until just combined; don't overmix.
7. Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula; set aside.
8. In a small, microwave-safe bowl melt the chocolate chips, about 1 minute on high power. Stop to check and stir. Heat in 10-second bursts until chocolate can be stirred smooth.
9. Drizzle the chocolate over the pan and swirl lightly with the tip of a table knife or a toothpick. To create the pattern shown, drizzle chocolate over batter in 5 wide, evenly spaced, parallel lines, each spanning the length of the pan. Like 5 rows of long train tracks. Rotate pan 90-degrees. With a toothpick, starting at the top of the pan, "draw" 5 evenly spaced lines through the chocolate. You're dragging the toothpick perpendicularly through the first set of lines to create the swirling.
10. Bake for about 28 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving; however, for optimal results, cool overnight so the chocolate has a chance to fully set up fully.